Lesson 1: Producing safe, quality labels

Hung Yen longan is ranked 13th among 50 famous fruits of Vietnam, recognized by the Vietnam Record Organization as the most delicious fruit and registered for trademark protection "Hung Yen longan, the taste of the king", recognized as a geographical indication to help customers recognize and enjoy genuine Hung Yen longan products. To promote the above advantages, the functional sector, localities and farmers have constantly improved the quality, preserved and propagated the precious longan variety.

Mr. Bui Xuan Su, Hong Nam commune (Hung Yen city) chooses organically grown longan for export.

The whole province has nearly 5 thousand hectares of longan production, concentrated in localities such as Khoai Chau, An Thi, Phu Cu, Tien Lu and Hung Yen city. With the promotion of intensive farming techniques, up to now, longan in the province is divided into 3 tea seasons: early tea longan is harvested from March to July; main season longan is harvested from late July to late August; late ripe longan is harvested from early September to mid-October. The tea season structure is distributed over a long period of time, contributing to improving production and processing efficiency and creating favorable conditions to boost exports.

Currently, it is the main season for longan harvest. Previously, farmers in the province had completed the early longan harvest, with prices 2-3 times higher than the main season, contributing to improving the efficiency of longan cultivation. Currently, early longan only accounts for 5-7% of the total longan area in the province. Although the selling price is high and easy to consume, the production of early longan encounters some difficulties due to its dependence on the weather, requiring people to have experience in care and apply technical measures to "promote" the tree to flower and bear fruit in different seasons. Because the supply has not met the market demand, the province's early longan is mainly used as gifts, using fresh fruit, and there is not enough output for processing.

Hung Yen city is considered the "capital" of longan in the province with many delicious and precious longan varieties. The city currently has more than 1 thousand hectares of longan, concentrated in communes and wards such as: Hong Nam, Tan Hung, Phuong Chieu, Quang Chau, Lam Son... At this time, the main longan season is being harvested, the city's fresh longan output this year is estimated at over 10 thousand tons. Currently, Hung Yen city has more than 500 hectares of longan grown according to VietGAP standards, more than 10 longan growing locations have been granted OTAS growing area codes.

This year is the third year that Mr. Bui Xuan Su in Hong Nam commune (Hung Yen city) has grown longan according to organic processes. Mr. Su said: The longan garden of more than 200 trees is currently cared for according to organic processes. In the 2022 longan crop, I harvested 13 tons of fresh longan fruit. Longan grown according to organic processes is exported to Europe through a number of agricultural export enterprises. This year, although the yield is lower, the amount of fresh longan fruit grown according to organic processes by Mr. Su has been selected by the enterprise to check the indicators and export to the French market. Mr. Su added: Taking care of longan trees according to organic methods takes more effort and time than mass-grown longan. Fertilizer for the trees is mainly from products soaked in corn, beans, fish... composted with biological products to remove the fishy smell and then mixed to water the roots of the tree. To prevent pests and diseases without using chemicals, in addition to spraying nano silver, ginger, garlic, and chili must be ground and sprayed on the leaves and trunks of longan trees.

Khoai Chau district has more than 1,300 hectares of longan being harvested, mainly late longan with a concentrated scale of about 900 hectares in the communes of Ham Tu, Dong Ket, Binh Kieu, An Vi, Ong Dinh... Besides the main longan variety of Mien Thiet, in recent years, farmers in the district have planted a number of new varieties of high quality such as: Super sweet longan, T1, T2, T6 longan... The whole district has 42 longan production models according to VietGAP process with a total area of nearly 600 hectares.

In Ham Tu commune (Khoai Chau), farmers have established the Mien Thiet Longan Cooperative with a highly intensive farming model, building a safe longan production chain; regularly approaching businesses with experience in exporting fruits and vegetables in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to expand export markets. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy in An Canh village, Ham Tu commune said: In recent years, my family's longan garden has always been in a state of not being enough to supply. Since 2015, my family has gradually switched from Mien Thiet longan to growing super sweet longan. Because the ripening time is later than other varieties and the fruit quality is good, the selling price of super sweet longan is often 2-3 times higher than Mien Thiet longan. With 2 hectares of longan, in 2022, Ms. Thuy's family will harvest more than 10 tons of fruit at a price of 30,000 to 40,000 VND/kg. In 2023, her family's longan output, although decreased, still reached nearly 10 tons.

Mr. Do Ba Nghia, Director of Khoai Chau Longan Cooperative, said: Cultivation of late-ripening longan is an effective method, typically the measure of extending the crop season because Khoai Chau late-ripening longan has a long harvest time, avoiding the situation of fruit ripening simultaneously, leading to a local increase in supply.

Although producing safe, quality longan requires people to improve their farming skills, apply strict production processes, select fertilizers and pesticides in the list of permitted uses, etc., production reality shows that the area of longan produced according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP processes is still being expanded by cooperatives and gardeners in the province every year. This shows the economic , health, environmental and sustainability values of this model.

The province currently has about 1,700 hectares of longan production according to VietGAP standards, accounting for about 34% of the province's longan area. There are about 10 hectares of longan in Hung Yen city that have been upgraded from VietGAP standards to organic farming. Many longan and longan products of cooperatives and cooperative groups are recognized as OCOP products of the province. Every year, longan produced according to VietGAP standards of some cooperatives in Hung Yen city and Khoai Chau district has stable export output to the UK, EU, Japan, etc. To improve the quality of agricultural products in general and fresh longan in particular, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue many policies and guidelines; develop projects and models for clean agricultural development in the direction of VietGAP and organic standards.

Reporter team

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